Working a Job Fair - Part One 11/8/2005 8:20:29 AM
Working a Job Fair: Part One
The Good, The Bad and…the Good, Again
Given that the average employee will hold down 6.4 different jobs during his or her career, you can almost bet that you’re going to attend a job fair at some point, if you haven’t already had the pleasure. You see job fairs are a mixed blessing, with good and bad points. Here’s how you can maximize the positive and mitigate the negatives of job fairs.
The Upside to Job Fairs
In three words: convenience, convenience, convenience. Where else can you get some face time with ten potential employers in six hours? That’s a real plus.
Job fairs bring employers and employees together – kind of like speed dating. You stop by a booth, shake hands (remember firm, but not too firm), drop off your resume, get five minutes to describe 15 years of solid work experience – before moving on to the next interview, three booths down. It’s a long day, no doubt about it. But job fairs are anything but a waste of time. In fact, they’re a valuable resource for finding that perfect position. That’s a big plus.
Job fairs tend to be regional: The Bay Area Job Fair, the New England Job Fair, Colorado Careers on Parade and so on. This is a good thing. It gives you the opportunity to focus on positions that don’t require uprooting the family (or yourself) with a move across country. Another plus.
Finally, job fairs are great places to network – to meet people who know people who know of a company looking for someone just like you. Perfect! Meet anybody, meet everybody. You never know where it’ll lead.
The Downside to Job Fairs
Ever eat a $4 hotdog or a $2 cup of really bad coffee. You have if you’ve been to a job fair. The food tends to be dreadful, but then we’re not here to eat, we’re here to find the next, perfect position. Even so - $4 for a hotdog? There ought to be a law.
Another downside? You’ll be meeting with human resources personnel who have already interviewed 82 people that day, they’re tired, they want to get back to the hotel, and unless you’ve got a squirting flower boutonniËre, you may get lost in the sea of faces, names and resumes.
The Upside to Job Fairs, Part 2
It’s important to remember – no one ever got a job at a job fair. What you can get is your foot in the door – an interview. And that’s what you shoot for – an interview where you can really strut your stuff.
If you know what to expect, if you plan your day at the fair with military precision, you can make an impression and you can make a difference in the direction of your job search. You’ll also maximize the positives and lessen the impact of the ‘cattle call’ aspect of some job fairs.
